Salmonella Salad

...avoiding salmonella from supermarket salad

Scientists from the University of Leicester have found that packets of supermarket salads are highly susceptible to encouraging the growth salmonella, with broken salad leaves leaking fluid that can, under certain conditions, increase the growth of salmonella 2,400-fold.

“We wanted to investigate what happens to Salmonella in a bag of salad to better understand the potential risks to consumers and inform future research on reducing attachment of this pathogen to salad leaves. This study is part of our ongoing research into ways to reduce the risk of Salmonella persisting and growing when it is present in bagged salad.”

With the convenience of pre-prepared salads making them increasingly popular amongst consumers, Dawn explains the importance of people following safety guidelines to ensure that the food people are consuming is safe:

“Whilst the NHS advice is that the chances of your salad bag being contaminated are low, it is important to remember that a similar break out of E. coli in the summer – thought to be linked to salad leaves – killed two people and led to another 62 being hospitalised.”

“It is important that consumers are made aware of the risks with regards to pre-prepared salad bag, particularly as consumers tend to view these as convenient, nutritious and healthy options.”

“With salmonella being difficult to remove once present in a bag of salad, salad leaf growers have a responsibility to ensure that they are following proper practice to reduce the chances of contaminated leaves entering a bag.”

“If a salmonella outbreak was linked to a packet of supermarket salad, liability would fall with the supplier, as it is their responsibility to ensure that products are safe being supplying them to consumers.”

“Many consumers do not realise that they could make a compensation claim against the liable party if they suffer from food poisoning, especially if they have to take time off work to recover or if there are long-term complications linked to consuming the contaminated food.”

“Ultimately, this story once again highlights the importance of preparing and storing food in accordance with health and safety guidelines and the necessity of washing hands before handling food.”

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